The Hero
by Basched
Summary: Second birthday fic for Kuryakinsgirl first posted on my livejournal. A little girl draws a picture of her hero. Jellie...ish.


_Author's note: The second Jellie fic originally posted on my LJ for Kuryakinsgirl's birthday. Not beta'd. _

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**The Hero**

He wasn't completely engrossed. There were the rare occasions where he would peek his head out of his study and look into the real world. Today was one such occurrence, as he was drawn from the tiny room for the need of food.

He opened the door and heard the sounds of his youngest playing in the lounge. He slowly walked down the corridor and saw that his eldest was not with him and was instead sitting at the dining room table, drawing.

The entire table was covered in pieces of paper, each with pictures well done, considering the artist was only eight years old. He approached the table, smiling softly to his youngest who waved enthusiastically, and picked up a single piece of paper.

It was a curious drawing. Not one he expected.

"Who is this, sweetheart?"

His eldest looked up from her scribblings and smiled holding up the paper she was working on.

"This is the man." she said proudly with wide beaming eyes and hope in her voice.

"I can see it's a man. Who is it?"

She shrugged her shoulders and went back to colouring in with a green pencil.

The drawings she had done were all of a man, mostly dressed in black suits and a tie, a couple even appeared to be some kind of military uniform. In one of them he was clearly smoking a cigar. There were three black pencils strewn across the paper, though they were very small now, having been used so much. Pencil sharpenings were arranged in a neat little pile by the tiny pencils, all ready to be put into a bin.

Currently, she was colouring a green shirt on the man, who was standing with feet wide apart and his arms crossed over his chest.

"Who…who is he, sweetie?" He asked.

"He's a hero!"

"He's a soldier?"

She shrugged her shoulders and then wiggled her hand from side to side. It was clear that she was unsure if this this man was or wasn't, but the—fifteen-pictures his eldest had drawn were clearly of a hero figure.

"What made you draw him?" He asked as he wondered towards the kitchen. She looked up and slipped off her chair to follow quickly after her father. She helped him take some bread, ham and mustard from the fridge and carried them to the counter. He pulled out a stool so she could be level with the counter and together they began to make a sandwich.

"What made you draw him?" he asked pulling off two strips of ham, one for him and one for his daughter. She took it and nibbled lightly at the piece, tasting it's smoky flavours. When it was finished she looked hopefully for more, but he shook his head.

"I drew him because I'm going to meet him one day." she said as she buttered a slice of bread. "Everyone needs a hero, dad. Don't they?"

"Surely you can be your own hero?"

"Yes! I'm going to be a doctor!" she squealed with excitement.

He smiled proudly as he cut the finished sandwich in half. Of course she was going to be a doctor, it was what she had always wanted to do.

"I'm going to help people." she said, taking one half of the sandwich and hopping of the stool.

She always helped people and that made him so proud. He patted her on the head and walked back with her to the table. She got onto her chair and as she ate the ham sandwich she grinned.

"He is going to keep me safe. Protect me and keep away the bad people."

"Is that not my job?"

She laughed and carried on drawing.

"Silly daddy. You know what I mean! The man is for me. He's for everyone, the country! He belongs to all of America!"

"Is he Captain America?" piqued a small excited voice from the sofa in the lounge. There was a wave of a comic book. She shook her head.

"Captain? I don't think so!" she muttered under her breath, ignoring her younger brother.

"There are a lot of heroes in this world, Ellie." said her father, kneeling down next to her and picking up one of the pictures. It was clearly a soldier, maybe a Marine…she wasn't quite accurate with the details. "All of them are special in their own way."

"He is going to be my hero!" said Ellie moving aside the finished drawing and starting a fresh one. "Like you are with mommy! He's going to be awesome!"

Stephen Bartowski sighed and took a quick glance to the front door. There was a pang of hurt in his chest and he had to walk back to his study, unable to be in the same room as his children. There was so much he had to explain, but it was going to hurt them, so he didn't do it now. Perhaps another time.

He paused momentarily at the door to his study, seeing Ellie drawing with hope and excitement and he prayed that one day, she would meet her hero. Both his children were going to need one, someone who would keep them safe.

Because he wasn't going to be around all the time.

"Is this the Captain?" Four year old Chuck and snagged a drawing off the table and his eyes widened in fear. "He looks scary!"

"He's only scary if you're a bad guy." Ellie patted the seat and allowed Chuck to climb up beside her. "You're not a bad guy, are you Chuck?"

"Nope! I'm a good guy! Will he protect me too then, your hero?"

Ellie nodded.

"Provided you're not a moron. He doesn't protect morons!"

"I can be not a moron!" Chuck beamed back and jiggled happily on his bottom. "You sure he can protect me as well?"

"Sure. But he's still mine though!" Ellie handed him a piece of paper and some other pencils.

"Okay!" Chuck clapped his hands and began to chew on the end of the pencil. Seeing the disapproving glare from his sister, he took it out of his mouth and wiped the dribble from the end on his t-shirt. "Sorry."

Stephen Bartowski fiddled with the sleeve of his worn cardigan and took one last look at his children happily drawing together.

It was good for them to dream.

He just hoped that when his Eleanor grew up, she would find this right man. A man who would love her and keep her safe, because he had a nasty feeling that he wasn't going to be around to see that happen.


End file.
